Patrol

Ferguson Home Raided in Search of Shooters, Wounded Officers Treated and Released

March 12, 2015

Riot gear worn by officer shot early Thursday in Ferguson. (Photo: St. Louis County PD)

Officers swarmed a home in Ferguson, Mo., Thursday morning in a search for those responsible for the shooting of two police officers outside the Ferguson police department about midnight.

The two officers shot early Thursday are expected to survive, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said. They were treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and released Thursday, though one still had a bullet lodged behind his ear, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

"We're lucky by God's grace that we didn't lose those two officers last night," Belmar said. "We could have buried two police officers next week because of this."

Belmar said he believes the shots came from a handgun, not a rifle, based on the injuries and the sound of the shots, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

The chief said no suspects have been identified in the shootings but that detectives recovered shell casings near the scene. He said it was not clear if those shell casings were from the shooting. He said some witnesses have been "forthright" in helping police with the investigation.

Tactical officers surrounded a brick bungalow on Dade Avenue near Tiffin Avenue. The home is about four blocks west of the police department. Officers went in with dogs about 9:30 a.m. A neighbor said he saw police bring two men out of the home. The woman who neighbors say rents the home was also brought out in handcuffs.

A former police officer—now an elected official with the Missouri House of Representatives—wants to force any city with a population of 5,000 or fewer inhabitants, with an area of less than two square miles, to disband its police department and contract for law enforcement services with either the county police department or a larger neighboring city.